Along about ten, I'll be flying high

Thursday music corner: Rock ‘n roll pioneer Little Richard (1932-2020) was one of the first black artists to cross over into mass appeal with white audiences in the US pop scene, and was a major driver for the popularisation of high-energy rhythm and blues that became global less than a decade later with a little bit of help from the Beatles. Tutti Frutti and Long Tally Sally b/w Slippin’ and Slidin’ were his breakthrough singles in 1955 and 1956, and the classic Rip It Up emerged in June 1956, becoming his second US R&B chart-topper and fourth Top 40 single. The track also appeared on his March 1957 debut album, Here’s Little Richard, which holds the distinction of having nine of its 12 songs making the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. 

Further afield and a couple of decades later in 1977, when Murray Cammick and Alistair Dougal established a new music magazine in Auckland, they borrowed this single’s name for the title. Rip It Up Magazine was distributed free in New Zealand music shops until 1991, when a cover price was instigated. It played an important role in New Zealand music history until its last issue was published in 2015.

Little Richard – Rip It Up (1956)